Monday, January 13, 2014

The Fire and Water Podcast Presents: WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE, Volume XVI

This time around we chat about WHO'S WHO: Volume XVI, discussing characters such as Mr. Terrific, Mon-El, Mordru, Multiplex, Nathaniel Dusk, The New Gods, and Night Force! We wrap up the show with Listener Feedback!Be sure to check out our Tumblr site for a few pages from this Who's Who issue: FireandWaterPodcast.Tumblr.com!
Let us know what you think of the show! Send questions or comments to: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net

6 comments:

Earth 2 Chris
said...

Another Who's Who! Monday is saved!

Some quick comments (I'll get more long-winded later):

Odd Man DID appear in an honest to goodness DC Comic! One story ran in Detective Comics #487, Dec/Jan 1979/80. I actually had this book as a kid and the character really weirded me out. http://www.dcindexes.com/features/database.php?site=dc&pagetype=story&id=38932

Don't second guess yourself Shag, the Bronze Age and later versions of the Newsboy Legion WERE clones of the originals! The originals treated them as their sons, but they are clones. The Guardian was of course a clone of the original, but with his original brain put into the new body.

The long "Where Were You on the Night Batman was Killed" storyline is reprinted in it's entirety in "The Strange Deaths of Batman" TPB.

Rob, didn't Scavenger get a Who's Who entry? That's another Aquaman foe, correct? I think Ron Frenz drew that entry?

Morgan Le Fey fought Man-Bat in Batman Family #17, in a story drawn by Michael Golden!

Fab to have you back. I wish that you lads would insist we leave our comments in one place or another, I can never remember if the long-winded discussions - which I love - show up here, or at Firestorm Fan (where I posted earlier) or the Fire and Water Podcast.

Mysto: My only frame of reference for this guy was Detective #500 and a lone reprint in a Detective issue of Blue Ribbon Digest.

Negative Woman: I think the guy with the stars is Reactron.

Nemesis Kid: He KILLED Karate Kid. And then Projectra killed him for it. It's right there in the entry fellas. ;-)

Neptune Perkins: Rescued from obscurity and developed by Roy Thomas, then murdered in a tiny panel by King Shark...and Geoff Johns. Sigh.

The New Gods: Some of these guys made it into live action on Smallville in heavily altered forms: Granny Goodness, Glorious Godfrey and Dessad. Darkseid was a CGI creation. Kirby definitely tied in his work with Norse mythology in Thor. Lonar found Thor's helmet! He continued the lineage on in The Eternals and Captain Victory.

The Newsboy Legion: Love seeing Kesel's inks on Kirby. So much more kinetic and alive without Theakston's heavy hand. Kesel went on to use the Boys in Superman and Superboy.

Another fine episode gents! I look forward to the next issue with it's cover spotlight on my boy Dick Grayson (and the Penguin). Even though Marv forever marred Nightwing's entry by bringing up his never-ending Brother Blood storyline. Ugh.

asC) While referring to Kupperberg's Doom Patrol, if by "traditional" he meant "DC's least successful X-Men knock-off of the '80s," then yes, it was very very "traditional." Loved the Lightle art though. Not so much anyone else who ever drew that book. Ijn fact, my every attempt to find an "in" to that volume ended dismally. Even the Morrison stuff struck me as Lady Gaga.

asD) I couldn't get into Night Force, either. By the time Tomb of Dracula wrapped, I think I was done with Wolfman/Colan supernatural thrillers. Also, Baron Winter bores me senseless.

asE) Mon-El is b-list for the Legion, much less the greater DC Universe. One of the weakest cover spotlight characters.

asF) Regarding Giordano's studio inking: Shag is 100% right. The further we go into the background, the less likely Perez's work is even recognizable.

Earth 2 Chris, while Starlin likely came up with Mongul's visual, and drew his earliest appearances, Len Wein wrote the origin story and Paul Levitz did most of the ones that followed.

asG) If I put a lot of thought into it, I could come up with much better objective suggestions for most egregious Who's Who omission. Since it's low hanging fruit to just play "The Martian Manhunter Fanboy" card, I'll offer Commander Blanx or Zook. Blanx forever altered the Alien Atlas' overarching story and offered an extra-secret origin for the JLA, so his two brief appearances had magnitude. Meanwhile, Zook was Martian Manhunter's super-powered partner and primary supporting player from 1962-1968, appearing in 32 stories. That should be enough to at least bump Myrwhydden or Mysto out of their half-page.

asH) Most of the supporting cast entries you guys were clamoring for turned up in the Updates and in late '80s annuals.

asI) Would have read a book featuring either Rob or Shag's dream team. My Martian Manhunter & The Overplus: Wonder Woman, The Atom, Vixen, Captain Comet, Steel, Elasti-Girl and OMAC (One Man Army Corps). In the tradition of stupid '80s DC villain teams, they would battle The Pentagram, made up of Dark Opal, The Demon Etrigan, Eclipso, Nebiros, Lord Satanus and Trigon. Also, Dr. Psycho's Circus, featuring Gorilla Grodd, Killer Croc, the Cheetah, the Parasite and Ambush Bug.